Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapid Support for this May 21st, 2025.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here, and we're welcoming into the studio.
Not only our good friend, Wisconsin Rapids and Mayor Matt Zach are always good to have
with us.
Thanks for being here.
Morning James, thanks for having me as always.
Want to say a big shout out to our friends at Wisconsin Rapids Community Media.
Do yourself a favor, go to YouTube, subscribe to their page, keep up to date, and all the
cool things that they are doing over there.
And a lot of the newer ideas you guys have been doing over there, especially the pairing
of this with the mayor and the media and some of the spotlights that you guys have been
doing and everything.
I've really been enjoying those.
Yeah, yeah, we're working hard between Joe and Taylor and Emily and myself and just coming
up with ideas all the department has at the main goal since I got elected or even part
of, you know, my running was to develop the communication between us within the departments
within the city so that we're working more efficiently.
But ultimately the goal is to be able to get that information out to the people and then
have a direct line for them to get back in touch with us.
We're also taking on the big project and it takes a long time.
I didn't really know this, but developing a whole new website for the city, it's going
to be a whole new design, a whole new company, a lot more tools that we can use for communication.
It's to be able to get that information out there and then utilize these podcast type
situations formats where we can really have conversations with the department has and
what's going on.
Try to tap into some of the bigger issues that are out there and get as much information
out to the community as possible.
So it's been great and I look forward to a lot of great things coming from it.
When you were first running, one of the things that we noted and you yourself and your campaign
noted is your business background and experience and everything and certainly we thought that
would be helpful in coming to play on an economic level in some of those things.
I also think it's noteworthy when it comes to transparency and how you've approached
this position with that.
I know how important that was to you in business and still is of course and to see that transition
into politics is very refreshing and very welcomed and it's something that's really important
to you.
It's one thing to talk a good game.
You've been backing it up and I appreciate that and I appreciate, I know that I'm
not alone in that.
I've heard that from community members and everything.
Four times and not when I'm saying something, it's something that I'm repeating from
somebody in the community that they've said to me or something but I think it's noteworthy
because we don't get to do that very often with our politicians.
I think that's interesting.
Well, it's greatly appreciated and it doesn't, it's tricky but I for sure appreciate
the feedback from the community from you and from other people have said that to you
and I have heard it in different ways of people just saying thank you for even calling
me directly and just saying we appreciate that information and really, again I guess
I look at everybody as we're all leaders in our own right whether it's with our families,
our jobs, our businesses, our in the community so we should all be treated as such and I
think the further we treat the community as our employers, the better off we're going
to be in the long run and that just comes down to getting as much information as possible.
Again, there's sometimes that I have to be cautious just for, you know, NDAs and all
that just make sure we don't step on toes.
I know we'll touch on that a little bit with the mill and what's going on there but
I appreciate that and I appreciate the fact that, you know, I'm hired by the community
or elected by the community slash hired to be the guy that's, you know, in charge of
getting this information and being able to smartly or, you know, wisely differentiate
between what shouldn't be said when and all that stuff and it's tricky especially when
you do believe in, you know, the free flow of information and then put the brakes on.
So it's been good and I appreciate it and I appreciate the feedback and let me know
that we're in the right direction.
I have amazing editors whether it's Seth or Laura or even, you know, Joe, the community
media, when I say bad things, I just write them like you got to edit that out, man,
you can't let, you please don't go public with that, I wish that I do so much live radio
that could never happen.
You speak of the community and the outreach and hearing back and feedback and those things
so it leads me perfectly into the community survey that just recently wrapped up on April
was completed in April and we haven't gotten a chance to really touch on that too much.
What is in the works with that and what are some of your bigger takeaways from that?
Yeah, so that was a part of the bigger picture of, you know, reaching out to the community.
At first, we started with the department heads and then we were able to go to the employees
and do surveys with them, which then led us to the, to the community or we went to the
aldermen and they said, let's get it out to the community.
So we've been able to do that now and it's a lot of process, it takes a lot of time to
get all that coordinated.
It's a lot of data.
And Joe and Emily have done a great job in putting that all together and getting it out
there.
So that being said, the feedback, and this is all going to the aldermen, we're going
to have a big committee of the whole on the 29th talking mainly about, you know, mission
vision values based on this community survey or a communication survey is what do we want.
Also talking more in depth about the budget for 2026 and what we should be looking towards
and getting the department heads to start talking now halfway through the year about what's
coming in 26 so that we know where we're going.
But ultimately, I don't think anything was too much of a surprise, but as the community
is evolving from, you know, the mill economy to a moron, to perneural, fast-paced, you
know, where people are starting up businesses and they are.
I mean, again, I don't take any credit for it besides saying, do it.
Like, take the risk, be courageous and go out there and start a business and just work
hard and figure it out as you go along.
But then again, for what our job for the city is ultimately, provide the infrastructure
that we need in order to make sure we can function on a day-to-day basis.
Again, there's 230 that I call kind of invisible people that work for the city that do all this
work all day long in the nooks and crannies in order to make sure that the city functions
the way it does.
And it's a great city and they're doing a great job.
I understand there's issues, nothing's going to be perfect.
We have to deal with roads and we are dealing with a amount of day-to-day basis, so we'll
touch base on that a little bit later.
Infrastructure was a big one, transparency is a big one, they want to know what's going
on, what we're doing, that what we're doing is for their benefit, not for our own benefit.
I think that's a big one and that's one thing that I strive for all the time.
I'm with you, a lot of the data that's coming from this I think was a lot of stuff that's
confirming more than surprising with a lot of it.
But one thing that I did find, I say borderline surprising to me was just the look into public
transportation and some more conversation of that being had.
And I don't know how close we are to that happening or not or any of those things.
But I just, it's a conversation that I think a lot of people in the community have had
in private or maybe with one or two friends and now it just seems like it's been talked
about a little bit more.
Again, don't know if that means we need to do something or not.
There's smarter people than me that will figure those things out.
I just find that the conversation is even being had.
I think it's, whatever happens with that information or whatever that data and stuff, I think
there needs to be a positive taken from that of our city is doing that well.
Our city is that healthy.
Public transportation is not being brought up in a small town of 400 people with no business
in it.
So I think that that part, regardless, again, whatever comes from that, that we're having
that conversation is a positive in our community.
And I want us to take more of these little wins in life and talk about them more.
It's one thing to be, oh, we brought in this big conglomerate to our community and all
these jobs or whatever, very few communities can do that.
And it's low hanging fruit to me, even to be discussed.
As far as one of these gigantic businesses, if they were going to come to town, I don't
even want to know about it until the paper, the ink is signed.
You just can't count on that.
But you can count on certain things that have been happening with a lot of our other businesses
here in town.
And I find that encouraging along with just some of these conversations that I'm hearing
from community members and everything.
So that part stood out to me a little bit too.
Yeah.
You covered a lot of territory in that.
There's a whole lot to respond to, man.
What do you even do?
There's a horrible interview with John.
Well, no.
It brought to all sorts of things.
I was just saying this morning, because I was having a conversation with Joel Eichstead
from the engineering department talking about A Street because we have to come up with
the plans for A Street.
Obviously, we have to get the entirety of A Street repaved.
We're going to be doing the southern part of it first in 28th and then the northern part
in 32.
But in the meantime, there's all this processing that's going on at the state level and trying
to figure out what's this going to look like.
And obviously we want, so what I found out is I push, I'm pleasantly persistent and I
just keep pushing and pushing as far as I can until either I know I'm making people angry
and should stop or I actually get what I need done, done.
But ultimately this, the greens, you know, we can do better on A Street, whether it's
trees, green space, what that's going to look like so we can make it look less industrial.
Even if we have the same street, like my take on it is we could make that street completely
different, but the amount of millions and millions of dollars we would have to kick in to try
to change the how that thing is laid out is just crazy.
But for relatively inexpensive, we can start to make it look prettier and be able to set
up the road and the sidewalks and everything so that we can get some trees in there and
some more greenery and stuff like that in between the road and the businesses.
And then I'm like, well, okay, well, we have all these sidewalks and people are, you
know, how many people actually walk down A Street, you know, but there are people that
walk down A Street and would more people walk down A Street if there was more conducive
to walking and a little less industrial, maybe a little slower, chaotic, because it is
kind of a crazy road.
Yeah.
Oh, that leads you to like, you know, there used to be trolley set up here and I don't
know if we're doing a bus system, but there's certainly a conversation to be had around
it.
So everybody understands I'm not saying that we're doing this.
I'm just saying that conversations can be had around, you know, some kind of a bus
system that goes from one side of town to the other, different size of A Street, you
know, to get you back and forth.
You know, there's options there.
I think when people are talking right now about public transportation, it's more about
running ink, which is the taxi situation in town.
And they are very, I have found them to be very willing to take any criticisms that the
people come to me with.
I've had some incidences with them myself that, you know, I brought to their attention.
I said, I just don't think this is good for the city or for you guys and they take them.
They try to change them.
They're running into the same issues, everybody else's having enough labor to make this happen,
still trying to juggle all these things.
They do have a new system than the old system that was there from the old company.
You know, so everybody's got to be patient and ask enough questions and talk to them about
what's going on and so that we can stay on the same page because they are here to stay.
They got the contract legitimately and they're doing the best job they can with the resources
they're given to help us get around in our town.
It's especially people that are new to grow up with, that I grew up with cabs and taxis
and all that stuff.
And I know a lot of people that are working in that industry.
Actually my father is a really good friend with somebody who owned a cab company and stuff.
Okay.
You ain't kidding.
I mean, it's a rough gig.
It's a tough one.
And especially if there isn't already an established blueprint for you in that, oh, I have my
regulars.
I have this.
It's so much more difficult to navigate and figure out.
And I think that, you know, I don't know any doubt that they will.
It's just going to take some time and figure it and hammering out some of those things.
And they're using technology that a lot of older folks that want to use the services are
not necessarily going to be excited about, but you kind of have to because once you figure
it out, it's great.
Now you can communicate, you know, really easy with your taxi driver and this and that.
And they take safeguards on that.
So I won't go into details on that, but they do take safeguards to keep their customer
safe.
I appreciate you noting that because our area is such a, it's such a great example and
awful.
I hope to the rest of the country.
And I mean this.
I know we're talking about Wisconsin, rapid central Wisconsin.
I mean, never word of this.
This area in central Wisconsin is such a perfect chance to really get some research, get
some data on this mixing of young and old and working of that.
And by old, I mean like 50s and 60s.
I'm not even talking about in senior senior age and such.
And in the tech world and that world and the combining of that and how we are not hopefully
leaving so many people behind while also understanding that technology only goes one direction
time, only goes one direction and that balance here in such a Wisconsin, we're learning
that in real time, write this second and do.
I think doing a fairly good job of it.
I think everybody can point holes in this and that and just like I can point positives
here and there.
It's just something we got to all figure out together.
Well, that's the interesting part because I think sometimes people think that people are
new to impression that the people that work in the government and have all the magic solutions
to everything.
And it's really not.
It really does come down to the people kind of looking at life and saying, okay, this
needs to be done and they come up with ways of helping.
And then you figure out if you can work together to provide assistance to help each other,
but it's really going to come down to the people.
This community was built by the people.
The community is run by the people of the people and they're doing it on a day-to-day basis.
I did learn a lot about, you know, I've always, you know, understood the baby boom generation
was immense and it is.
It is very, very immense.
And we are under the weight of that right now with the whole, I'm going off on a bit
of a tangent here, but this is very important to what we're going through right now.
Which is the EMS 911 system.
Yeah.
And again, we just have, you know, society has brought us into place where you have some
really, you know, hardcore people, they live independently and they want to stay independent.
And so they're staying in their houses, you know, as they get older and older and they
don't necessarily have the family or friends and resources.
So they're using the 911 system as their resource to get help when they need it.
And ultimately the firemen, the paramedics that are there, you know, they're compassionate
people.
They're fearless people, they're amazing people really all and all.
And they don't mind doing it, but it's taking a toll on those resources because there's
just so many calls, you know, over 5,000 calls for our people.
So then what do you do?
Do you hire more paramedic firemen or do you work as what we're doing right now with
this new program?
It's called a call responder program through Chief Hastings at the Fire Police Department
brought it from his old community program in itself.
So ODC hires this person, Legacy Foundation agreed to pay for this person.
Right now, her name is Jen Farmbro.
She's a social worker and Legacy is paying for three years for this person to be there
and develop this program and quickly evolve or grew from just the fire, the police department
to the fire department.
And she's connected to the, what she's connected to everybody, she's connected to the resources
at the county level also, which also then leads into all the other services that are
out there in the community, like, you know, companies like Incluso that are tapped into
the insurance benefits.
And then the other companies that actually provide benefits in the house and hire people
to help people and make sure that they're safe.
So anyways, there's all these resources built there and this program we're designing
is then set up to be in the middle to bring all of them together to get the help for
the people in their homes that are going to stay there because they don't want to go
into assisted living.
So it's a great program.
Everybody's working really hard to kind of get this set up and going and hopefully eventually
we can get people resources outside of a 911 that they can call.
And as that grows forward, start to bring that call volume down so we take some of the
pressure off the fireman paramedics and start to really move in in a great direction
as we're as we're moving forward.
So not a works being done behind the scenes there.
Really great work.
Thank you for that info.
Appreciate that.
And we're speaking with Wisconsin Rapids and Mayor Matt Zach or along with our friends
from Wisconsin Rapids Community Media, I want to talk a little CEC with you right now.
And yes, I stole that from you.
Just like it rolls off the targets out so good.
Yeah, connecting entrepreneurial communities.
It's a mouthful.
CEC is what they're calling it.
It's a UW Extension program.
I went to Plattville last year when I first got in to kind of see what it was about because
again, that was part of my platform, which is we need to really develop these.
And again, entrepreneurialism is kind of a vague word, but in reality, it just means
starting business.
You know, like get working with each other, seeing what the needs are in the community.
And there's a lot of them.
There's a lot of things that people can be doing on their own to help other people.
Again, everybody looks, I know creating widgets isn't the easiest part, but there's people
doing that.
They're figuring out how to build stuff to clean out the weeds out of river banks or
lake banks and stuff like that and helping people out.
So there's businesses being developed.
So if I can encourage people to start 5,000 businesses in the next five years, that's great.
Businesses are going to be way better off than waiting for that one big company.
Granted, if that happens, we're going to do everything we can to bring them in.
But there's other things that go along with that.
How do you get the workforce back in town?
Then if you do land a company like that, where do they live if we don't have enough houses?
And if people that are older are staying in their houses and we can open those up for
young families to move into, these are all big conversations that are more than just
snapping your finger and making things happen.
But outside of that, this connecting entrepreneurial communities, it's a beautiful time for us
to be able to showcase what we're doing here and all the programs that we have and the
people that are working towards, you know, the Chamber of Commerce, Mid-State Technical
College in the county as programming the state has programs that work with us.
So UWSP is certainly in the community helping us with this stuff, Convention and Visitors
Bureau.
We all have parts of this entrepreneurial program.
So really, as this brings it on, showcases it, get to show off our theaters and all these
assets that we have that are just amazing, one of them being the library, which is a great
asset for the community and it's a big one, you know, and it costs a lot of money.
For me, Heather is our new director there, so we're excited to bring her on and get her
some time and learning about what's going on in the community, but I didn't really waste
any time and let her know that my vision is to be able to utilize the space in the library,
not just as like, kind of like a pseudo community center, but really to develop it as a business
startup, an entrepreneurial-based system where you have classes there and you have people
connecting to other people, learning about marketing and finance and all the things that
go along with understanding business to a higher degree.
And the library is a great place for that because it's a great building and it already
has the resources, so people are coming together to build this inside our community and I'm
excited for it in any way I can help.
I got a lot of great local libraries in the area.
I am biased about Macmillan and how great it amazing it is, and just in case my mom was
listening, I had to make sure.
But no, I really do love that place and the idea of not only it being a community hub,
which it is, but being an expansion in that regard is making good use of the space for
one.
And on the other side of this too, and again, I credit central Wisconsin and the creativity
and some of the businesses and the ideas that you see around here, all up and downtown.
And even just extending outside of town, you see that to a degree, but especially here
in Rapids, the point of, and for those that aren't up on this or something like that, I
think I can make it really basic for you.
If there are 10 new businesses starting, just statistically, not all of them are going
to make it.
And that's not trying to be mean or anything like that.
That's just business.
That's the way commerce works.
We need as many new entrepreneurial businesses as we can get, because there's no guarantee
all 500 of them are going to work out.
You need that.
And for every business that is just opening, there is one closing sometimes, again, with
the changing shift we have and so many different things of commerce changing overnight, oftentimes.
So yeah, it's not only a great idea, it's necessary.
It's important.
It's a really smart and necessary idea to be not only doing this, but again, going back
to your business background, you and the knowledge you can share with that and the ability
of being able to even just, not necessarily the knowledge you can share, but even just
the idea of you championing this and seeing the importance of it, you know what you're
talking about.
So all these factors, just like everything else we've been talking about, are connected.
Yeah.
Everything's connected.
One thing leads to another sort of thing.
Yeah.
And the other side to that is we have hundreds of businesses that are being run by, you
know, the second half of the baby boom generation that are going to be either shuttered and
shut down or sold off to somebody who they can bring in to show them their trade and their
viable businesses.
They lived off of them their whole lives.
They built their, you know, raised their families on them.
I think it's a great opportunity for young people to be able to get in there.
And if there is some way of, again, developing that platform where people who have businesses
can come in and meet people who want to start a business or buy into a business and have
that financing there.
There's plenty of banks that will finance something as long as it's, it's viable and they can
trust that they're going to get their money back and that's what banks are for.
So the CEC is a week long, or it's a three day thing on the, it starts on June 16,
17th and 18th.
And the information is out there, check on the city websites and the Dirk County websites
like everybody's a part of this program.
And there'll be breakout sessions going on for those three days and different events
going on in different areas.
I'm not going to be able to label them all off right now, but there's a lot of exciting
things and people have worked really, really hard to put this all together.
So be a part of it.
Everybody's in the community, be a part of it.
There's going to be people coming from all around the state to come to Wisconsin Rapids
in Wood County at this time.
So it's an exciting time.
So we're fortunate to have it and again, thanks to everybody who's putting all the blood
sweat and tears into making it work, making it happen.
We'll be talking about it on our shows and mentioning it as well.
And you can find out more information at wirapids.org, encourage to bookmark that page if you haven't
done so already.
Mayor, before we let you go, just wanted to get a quick update, how things are going
at the mill, everything going on time over there, working all right over there.
Yeah, everything's demolition and stuff.
MRD is doing well, working with Joe and Taylor to talk with, we talked with Bill from
CRG and Jerry from MRD and they both gave us the okay to go and film everything.
So there's footage out there that we want to get because we're kind of coming a little
bit later to the game, like some of the mill has already come down.
But there's footage out there that people are asking us to be able to get and present
and get it out to the community so that it can all be a part of this.
So I think that's very exciting and it doesn't happen overnight, you know, so we're going
to keep working on that.
But I was very appreciative that the owners of the property and the demolition company
were very actually excited about that, Jerry from MRD, again, great company from Milwaukee.
Let us know like the machine they just brought in on different semis and then they got
it.
It was one of the biggest ones in North America to part of a demolition company, so not
of exciting things going on there.
Again, sad that we're seeing something go that provided such a great economy for our
residents for a long time, but also excited to see that we're going to be able to start
with a clean slate and move forward.
So I don't know, it's one of the bigger topics that are going to be going on in the next
five to ten years is that area and what's going on with it and all eyes are there and
hopeful and excited, I think, more than anything.
Now that we've kind of, you know, some of the dust is beginning to settle with the topic
and everything.
Still a lot of work to be done, of course.
A lot of work to be done.
With the actual construction and everything, but the sensitive, you know, the fresh wound
that this was is healing.
And part of what's going to help it heal is this kind of news, this kind of what's going
on over there.
And especially, again, transparency, the video footage, I'm a sucker for buying the scene
stuff.
I'm going to be all in on this.
You're definitely getting views from me.
But I'm not alone.
The rest of the community has a lot of feeling with this too.
And especially the personal ties that you mentioned there, you're going to have even
more of that with it.
So it's a great idea.
That's going to be good.
We are very fortunate to have, in my opinion, CRG being a part of, we could have been
stuck with somebody you just didn't care.
And granted, they have to make a profit.
This is all for, you know, a private sector stuff.
But they do, they are biting their time and exploring all options in an order to try
to maximize the mixture of manufacturing and like these database companies that will
will provide good services and be able to tap into some of the power.
But at the same time, we need a mixture of it because if it goes all data, then we won't
have any power left for manufacturing.
So everybody's at the table.
Again, I appreciate that they all allow me and Kyle to be a part of that conversation
and throw our ideas out there and hear us.
And I think that's pretty impressive and very important.
And I think we're grateful for that, or we are very grateful for that and fortunate to
be a part of that.
So it's pretty awesome.
As we're getting ready to let you go, Mayor, I didn't, I didn't note on your, you had
a post about our public works department.
You were touching on this a little bit earlier.
Just wanted to, we wanted to send a shout out to all those people working behind the scenes
and so much of the great work that they are doing, oftentimes at crazy hours and at crazy
moments in the day, just to keep our city moving forward.
Yeah, I don't, I don't, it took a little while to probably about this year, I guess, to
really, for me to understand that we, we basically own a construction company and we own
an engineering company and these are very dedicated, hardworking people.
And in the end, it saves us a lot of time, a lot of heartache and gives us the ability
to be very agile in terms of, okay, we, we've finished our projects, you know, we have
time left in the beginning or the end of the season.
What can we do to help our city grow and, and we have to have some good discussions as
to how do we utilize that for the best interests of the city because we have the resources.
So it's, let's use them to the best of our ability, making sure it's fair for everybody,
the taxpayers who are the ones paying for this, but ultimately they are getting a, a great
amount for their, for the money that they're paying, for the city that they're paying to
take care of their business for them.
So it's, it's impressive and I appreciate everybody that's involved in this.
Appreciate so many of the, the city workers and so many of the people out there.
One of the great ways that you can show you appreciate them is doing your part and especially
when it comes to construction and keeping an eye out for all of our workers out there.
Just even everyday stuff, you know, thankfully we don't have to worry about salt in the roads
any time soon.
I should knock on wood for that with Mother Nature here in this state, but, but things
like that and being, you know, just having some good grace with fellow, you know, community
members.
That's what these people are.
They're, they're, they live in our community just like we do and work hard to keep
it upright and keep it going.
Yeah, just a quick shout out to Paul, Valert, Cody, Knutson, they, and the entire public
works, you know, streets department, they just won an award for basically ice and salt
management.
That was huge.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it already on here, but, but it was big and, and I appreciate
the work they put into making sure that the minimal, the least amount of salt is going
into our freshwater systems because it's going to impact us.
It is impacting us now.
So I am learning a lot about that and realizing how much work they put into it.
So some people have issues about brine, but in the end, brine is the most possible, efficient
way to use salt on our roads and keep us safe.
So it's, it's huge.
And again, you can't please everybody all the time, but at the same time for those that
do understand it, it's a good way to be able to get salt exactly where we need it and
get the ice melted when we need it melted to stay safe.
So it's pretty cool.
Thank you for the time.
As always, sir, looking forward to hanging out again next month.
If people have follow up questions, they'd like to know more reach out to you.
How can they do that?
Yeah, at any time, I got a city cell phone 715 315 29 25, give me a call, Emily also on
the Facebook and the website, she's always, we opened up our, our getting the comments
again and responding, given her the free will, you know, the free reign to respond when
needed.
I think we very much enjoy that.
You know, again, you and I have talked many times about the negative stuff that's out
there, but if you kind of, you know, put that in a box and let it be what it is because
you can't change it.
But when people do actually have valid questions and are frustrated, if we can get them the
actual information that will help them, they typically are very grateful, tend to delete
their negative comments and start to say, okay, let's do this together, let's work together
on this.
It's good.
Also, WI Rapids.org, be sure to follow the city on their Facebook page as well.
It's a great way to keep up to date on things going on in our community and do yourself
a favor.
Go to YouTube, subscribe to Wisconsin's Rapids Community Media's YouTube page, keep
up to date and all the cool things they are doing over there, like the mayor's series
and some of the other stuff that they have happening, sport, local, bi-local, everybody.
Thanks again for the time, Matt.
We'll talk in next month.
Thanks, James.
Appreciate it.
And thank you, everybody, for joining the conversation here at WFHR's Rapids Report.
